Got Craft? weekend all wrapped up!

Here are a few snapshots I took on my phone from this past weekend's craft fair. The week leading up to it was incredibly busy, but so worth it! The hours just flew by. I got a chance to debut a few new designs and get some direct feedback (I always enjoy seeing how people react to the cards). It was so nice to share a booth with my friends over at Simple Soap and to meet so many other great local vendors. Huge thanks to everyone who visited and to Lotus Events for organizing such an amazing event!

Happy Friday!

It's hard to believe that this is the last day of August. Where has summer gone? I'm hoping that the nice weather will hold out for a bit longer at least, but with each day I feel the cooling breeze of fall approaching. With this being the long weekend, I'm hoping to be able to fit in some relax time, go for some Menchies yogurt, and spend time with good friends. I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend as well!

{above shot: relaxing in Stanley Park on my birthday earlier this month}

{Shop Stop}: Assemble Gallery & Studio

Assemble Gallery & Studio is an inspiring creative space that functions as part gallery, part workshop studio, and part retail. I'm thrilled to have my cards there alongside so many other beautiful goods. I love how they use old card catalogs to display the cards! They'll be launching an online shop very soon so you can get your hands on all the wonderful things they have in store. If you're in the Phinney Ridge area of Seattle, be sure to stop by to say hello.

all images by Assemble Gallery & Studio

Hello Portland!

Here are a few snippets via Instagram from my road trip to Portland a couple of weekends ago. It was SUPER hot during those four days, but we enjoyed ourselves. As most vacations go, there was a lot of walking around and PLENTY of eating. Highlights included stops at Pine State Biscuits, Stumptown Coffee, Portland Japanese Garden, food cart hopping around (because of the heat many of the trucks were closed), and a wonderful dinner at Andina. Looking back at the photos, most of them were of food! Portland definitely did not disappoint in this department.

We were hoping to drive along the coast and visit Cannon beach on our way back to Vancouver, but due to time constraints we were not able to. We'll have to leave this for another trip.

Friday's Thought...

 

Garden in the City

Over the weekend I unexpectedly happened across the park by City Hall. I've passed by the outside countless times and never knew there was a little oasis on the inside. We had just grabbed some Vietnamese subs and were going to walk around the Cambie Street area, but instead we ended up on a park bench taking in a beautiful summer day in the city. Photos were taken with my iPhone.

{Shop Stop}: much&little

much&little is a beautiful shop in the Mount Pleasant area. It has a feeling of vintage and modern mixed together, with jewelry pieces and household goods that I would love to have in my home. I'm thrilled to have my greeting cards here, along with a few other wonderful card lines. Each item is hand-picked by owner Sarah Savoy, and so thoughtfully laid out and displayed, making this shop a very special place to be.

The Weekend

It was a beautiful weekend. Summer FINALLY hit Vancouver and I spent a lazy Sunday at Ambleside in West Vancouver. Here are a couple of photos via Instagram. If you'd like to check out more photos, follow me there @designsbyval.

{Sneak Peak}

Lately I've been working on ...

Let me know what you think! Would love to hear some feedback.

Summer Love List...

I seem to talk a lot about the weather on this blog, a true Vancouverite, some might say! The past few days have been surprisingly beautiful and sunny, and I'm starting to think about summer now. So this afternoon my mind wandered to a few things I love about it. What do you love about this season? Would love to hear your list!

A little weekend baking

Hello! I hope you had a good weekend. It had been a little while since I baked anything, so this weekend I decided to bring out the spatula and turn on the oven. I tried out a new recipe {to me} found on All Recipes. It was pretty simple, though the recipe did call for 2 1/3 cup of mashed bananas, which was more than I expected. If you do try it make sure you have a full bunch of bananas!

Happy Friday + DIY Father's Day Card

Hello and Happy Friday! I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine in Vancouver. It's been awhile since I've had the light shine in through my window like that, despite it being June!

Sunday is Father's Day, and being someone who designs greeting cards for a living, I wanted to make something special for my dad. So, here's a little DIY hand-made card project I created. {Instructions below}. It's pretty simple and the part I love most about it is that you can customize it to suit your dad's style. It can also be used for a birthday card, graduation, pretty much any occasion for a guy!

I hope you enjoy this project! If you happen to create this for your dad, send a link back with some pics. Would love to see the cards!

This card when finished and folded is a standard 4.25" x 5.5" size.
You'll need a few supplies:
4.25" x 10" cardstock (colour of your choice)
Scissors
Ruler
Buttons
Glue
Pencil & Eraser
Bone folder (optional)

1. Before folding, I drew some guidelines in with pencil
(as per the measurements pictured above)
2. To create the shirt collar, fold the top edges to the centre
(which should be 2.125")
3. Fold up the cardstock so that the bottom edge reaches the tip points of the collar. Draw guidelines.
4. Cut lines at angle to reach those guidelines.
5. Erase those guidelines you made in pencil.
6. Tuck bottom edge into those cuts and voila, your shirt is done!
7. Here's the fun part: Add buttons, a side pocket, whatever you want to customize the card.
Oh, and don't forget to write a special note inside!

Enjoy!
Val

Happy Friday + Colour Blocks

Lately I've been focusing on the business side of things and haven't really had a chance to design. I realized yesterday that I've been missing it... ALOT... and feeling rather drained. So to get ideas flowing, I created a few colour blocks for inspiration. I'm hoping to create some designs based on these palettes...Will see what happens! I hope you have a wonderful weekend to rest, create and rejuvenate.

Happy Weekend + Father's Day Cards

I woke up yesterday morning finding it hard to believe that it's June already! Perhaps it's the rainy grey weather that's still hanging on in Vancouver. To kick off the weekend I'd like to share my Father's Day cards with you! There's still plenty of time to shop for Dad! You can find the cards in my online shop HERE.
Happy shopping and happy weekend!

a little r&r...

With so many things on the "to do" list sometimes and limited hours in the day, I think our minds just need a bit of a recharge sometimes. Thank goodness for weekends! It's the May long weekend here in Canada (bonus!), and after a busy week I'm definitely looking forward to spending some time just relaxing, meeting up with friends, and just relaxing...Did I say that twice? Happy (long) weekend!

Holiday Show 2012!

I'll admit, it feels a bit weird to be talking about the holidays in May, but in the retail world, this is when holiday buying starts. I was recently in Seattle at the Whole Foods Pacific Northwest Holiday Show. It was great to finally meet and chat with other vendors whose products I've seen around the store! Here are just a few pics from that day.

p.s. The holiday collection of cards will be uploaded to my online shop a bit later this year, but if your store is interested in carrying my cards, please contact me here.

Friday's Thought

As I'm sitting here at my desk on a Friday morning, this random thought popped into my head. I feel truly fortunate and very blessed to be doing what I love everyday, but there are aspects of my work that I really don't like. On this morning's to do list, was one of those not so fun projects. Have a Happy Friday and hopefully there aren't too many of those to dos on your list before the weekend!